that's what they told me (aldies? ladies?) They usually open in early April but you could try their number and see if they are disconnected.

I hope someone there has the originial owner's enthusiasm for trying "one of everything." so it doesn't turn into a generic nursery.

They haven't updated their web site yet. If I'm in the area, I'll take a drive by. If they're opening at their usual time, they should have production under way.

Ellen

Anyone have "insider" info on this outfit? Spring is upon
us, their "early April opening" is around the corner, and still no updated Web Site and the telephone message STILL
says "opening on April 9th, 2004" !!! Not promising. . .

Well,
If they were not planning on re-opening, at all
would'nt they discontinue the website? ? Just trying to be hopeful !
I just cant go back to Home Depot style generic plants!

I pulled in their parking lot today. No sign of any activity, plastic in bad shape on may of the houses.
Couldn't really see inside, the gate was locked.
Does not look good.

That is soooo disappointing. I haven't had a chance to drive by. They should be in full swing if it was going to open. I'd say the likelyhood that it's opening up are slim.

Ellen

Cliff died more than a couple of years ago. I don't know if his wife is still alive or not.

Just be aware that their plants have been known to be diseased. I used to buy from them until one year everything I brought home died of one thing or another.

I've had great luck with their peppers, and counted on them for my celery seedlings every year. Actually Cliff died just a year or so ago, they ran a big story in the paper on his horse drawn hearse traipsing through Somerville.

Here's a good tribute from growertalks.com-

"The Perennial Cynic : John Friel

One of the best quotes Ive ever quoted about this industry came from one of the quirkiest, most knowledgeable plantsmen IÂve met: the late Cliff Tine, owner of New Jersey Botanical Gardens and Plant Shop.

I innocently asked if he frequented the casinos in Atlantic City. He laughed. "I donÂt need to go to a casino," he scoffed. "IÂm a grower! I gamble every day!" Cliff died in January at 78. His sendoffÂa formal military funeral with a flag-draped coffin in a horse-drawn caisson with top-hatted coachmenÂwould have pleased him, and surprised many. CliffÂs appearance put some people off. I knew him for two decades and rarely saw his ruddy face without three days of white stubble. His usual garb included green pants and a once-white shirt. Amused, he would bark a big gap-toothed laugh. Angry, he would turn a shade of magenta an impatiens would envy. When Cliff liked a plant, there was no limit. His friend Allen Russel, of RusselÂs Wholesale Nursery, remembers when Cliff "freaked out on hostas, and just went for it. He planted a display garden with over 600 varieties. The next year, he ripped them all out."

CliffÂs orders often ran 15 pages: one flat of everything, from Abutilon to Zygocactus; but what we grew represented a fraction of what he grew: 612 varieties of hemerocallis; 620 hostas; 384 ivies; 238 different peppers, from Aconcagua to Zimbabwe Bird; 258 tomatoes, from Abraham Lincoln to Zapotec Pink Ribbed.

And if Cliff liked you, he showed it. When our staff took good care of him, UPS brought big cartons stuffed with candy. When I handled his account, and for years afterward, a huge ham appeared at my door each Christmas.

I visited NJBG once, in the late Â80s. It was, kindly put, a mess. Tools, pots, flats, bags of soil, old motors and wires cluttered the workroom. Nothing seemed to have been discarded ever. Cliff complained that someone had broken in and robbed him. I wondered how he could tell.

There were about 15 greenhouses, each with its own coal furnace. Imagine, in the age of computerized environments, stoking and cleaning 15 heaters all winter. But this cheerful Luddite was computer-savvy. His mainframe drove multiple printers, chattering out color-coded tags. The businessÂs Web site is impressively robust and informative; it warns, "Shop earlyÂwe produce only six to 24 plants of many varieties!"

Cliff led the way into one greenhouse by tearing the poly off the end. This was the normal means of access: Rip it open to work, and then staple it shut again. The wooden doorframe held thousands of old staples and plastic scraps.

In another house, an elderly woman sat bent over so her nose nearly touched the seedlings she was dibbling into packs. "Mom, itÂs five o clock!" Cliff hollered. "Time to go home!" At 90, Mom was the businessÂs principal transplanter.

Magically, from this warren, Cliff conjured hundreds of thousands of healthy plants and sold them in a brief blaze of business each spring. The Dodge Viper goes from zero to 100 mph and back to zero in about 14 seconds. NJBGÂs sales pattern would chart about the same: From Zero to Closed for the Season in 70 working days, from April Âtil the Fourth of July, period.

"He was the master," Russel said. " A million different items, and heÂd blow it all out in three months." Cliff died in the house he was born in, on the farm his family established in 1891, and I misread him as an eccentric who spent his life in that one place. In fact, the man I thought I knew was an accomplished, well-traveled savant and entrepreneur.

Cliff started his first business, a chicken farm, at 16. He served in the Army in Hawaii in World War II, rising to the rank of Sergeant-Major. He owned at least four businesses, ran a print shop and published two magazines. He flew his own airplane. He left a widow, Madeline (Madge), with whom he fathered six children.

ItÂs no coincidence that "eccentric" and "plantsman" are so often coupled. WeÂre that kind of pursuit; we attract and breed that kind of folk, or used to.

But especially now, in an increasingly homogenous industry where greenhouses increasingly emulate factories, Cliff stood apart. In the gamble that is horticulture, he dealt a different game than most of us and played his hand his way, damn the torpedoes and the code enforcers, for the love of plants, of place and of people.

We re not likely to see his like again."

what a fine tribute. I hope his family can carry on, with that "one of everything" philosophy.

I've seen a woman around 40 working there who seemed like more than an employee, maybe a daughter who can take over. I hope.

and I don't think I've seen more than a couple diseased plants since I started going there ten years ago. Some plants haven't liked conditions in my garden and have died on me, but with NJBG, it's a cheap experiment.

Lisa

I've been lucky, I've gotten very few diseased plants from there. Where are we ever going to find the variety that he had in that greenhouse. I could always depend on finding such a wonderful variety. It will place a huge hole in my plant shopping. Where else could you spend $30.00 and have 10-15 different types of plants.

Ellen

I agree,
I didn't have a problem with diseased plants from there , either. The variety was outstanding. THE INSIDE OF MY HOUSE IS CRAMMED WITH PLANTS FROM LAST YEAR, passion vines, begonias, cannas, & 3 large angel trumpet plants/trees

I recieved the following email. I always looked forward to heading to scope out the selection every year. I guess I'll need to start looking into some of the other unusual plant sales and swaps.
Due to the passing of Mr. Tine last year, Mrs. Tine has decided to retire, and sadly,
the NJ Botanical Gardens Plant Shop will not be open this year.

On April 7th, 8th, and 9th. (this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday) from 9:30 AM to
3:30 PM we will be liquidating all of the greenhouses and their contents. This
is not a plant sale.

There are rooms of tools, machinery, scrap metal, furnaces, fans and loads more.
This is an extraordinary sale. You may purchase a quanset house, a furnace, and
a fan (we have several) and grow your own plants.

In addition to this, we are liquidating the estate. There are antiques and collectibles,
mahogany dining room, bedrooms, tables and chairs. Loads of bric-a-brac, linens,
china, old papers, books, and photos. There are rugs, quilts, household items,
costume jewelry and more.

We would like to thank all of you for your many years of dedication to our unique
business. Mr. Tine always loved to grow unusual varieties of plants. He reaped
as much joy as the customers as he watched them delight over the terrific of plants
that he always strove to provide.

Thank you again for your support.

This is a shame. I loved that place.

I was out at the estate sale today, April 7th, with my girlfriend Lorraine. My heart was soooooo sad to walk through the greenhouses and see "things" for sale, not plants. All his signs were still up, but sadly no plants. None of the wonderful vareity, colors, types, and love that you would find there. Where else can one spend $100 and walk out of there with flat upon flat of plants, to fill in spots, create baskets and containers and experiment. Mr. Tine may have been "eccentric" (as we see with walking through the estate), but his love and knowledge of horticulture is sorely missed.

I, also went to the sale. It was heartbreaking. Just walking through the house, seeing all their private things strewn about was sad. I did manage to go into one of the green houses and pick up a few Veronica plants. And a couple of unidentified ones. They had the tinest speck of green on it so I took it home and promptly watered them. They are coming to live now. The last reminder I have of the most fabulous place ever. It's like a ghost town now. I get sad thinking of all the plants trying to break through and we haven't had any rain. They are just sitting in there. Shame. Does anyone know of place that can somehow compare? Other than catalogs. That 'girl' of 40 was a worker. I would talk to her at times. We discussed that temper of Cliff's.. whew!! I believe the Mrs is in Florida. That is what her son said.

It happens all the time. While NJ Botanical was great for small perrenials, herbs etc., I remember Betty Cummins who ran a mail order nursery in Marlboro for 30+ years. The Cummins Garden was known all over the lower 48 for it's wonderful selection of native plants, native azaleas, rhododendrons, etc.

The funny thing that Betty once told me was that NONE of the locals (recently transplanted North Jerseyans or New Yorkers) ever visited her place. And one look around the contiguous tract housing confirmed it (spiraled junipers, etc.....complete crap)

When the house was sold, a few of us (loyal customers) took some of her plants (and there's not a day that I don't think of her plants as they sit in my garden). I spent hundreds if not a thousand dollars over the last year as I knew she was selling and purchased many beautiful rhodies, mountain laurel, etc from her landscape. She gave me back copies of Horticultural magazines. What a great woman.

Now in it's place??? A mcmansion with grass. All of the oak trees have been cut down and it looks like something John Gotti would live in.

Go figya....

There will never be another place like NJBG.

Thanks for posting that tribute, Evan.

OLD MR. TYNE HAS DIED?

MERCY! I HAVE BEEN GOING THERE FOR OVER 30 YEARS. I WILL CALL HIS WIFE; MARGIE AND SEE IF THEY ARE STILL DOING THAT CRATIVE THING.
LAST YEAR I SAW SOME INTERESTING PEOPLE WORKING THERE; ONE WAS A YOUNG LADY, WHO SEEMED TO BE "IN LIEU" OF MR. TYNE. THAT IS, SHE KNEW WHAT THEY WOULD BE OFFERING, AND WAS OBVIOUSLY A PLANT PERSON.
SO SORRY TO HEAR THIS, I LIVE SO CLOSE BUT HAVE BEEN UNABLE TO GET THERE. I'LL DRIVE OVER TODAY OR TOMORROW AND POST WHAT'S UP.
(GERI NELSON - MIDDLESEX NJ - ABOUT 8 MILES FROM NEW JERSEY BOTANICAL)

I SAW CLIFF EITHER LAST YEAR OR THE YEAR BEFORE IN THE GREENHOUSE.

I LIVE ONLY 8 MILES FROM THE NJB.

NJBG is definitely gone. They sold all the equipment just before the growing season. They are completely closed up. Don't bother taking the trip to check them out. It's a shame cause it was my favorite nursery.

Ellen